Daniel A. Sjursen recently retired from the US Army where he had reached the rank of major and served as a history instructor at West Point, his alma mater. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Ghost Riders of Baghdad- Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge and Patriotic Dissent- America in the Age of Endless War. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet and listen to his podcast "Fortress on a Hill," co-hosted with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henrikson.
"An engaging warts-and-all history of the U.S. meant to better
educate those who fight for it...Strongly written and
thought-provoking—a must read for nonhistorians seeking a firm
grasp of accurate American history."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Sjursen’s analysis compels the reader to think critically, in
order to move beyond the half-truths that keep us from collectively
solving America’s most persistent and damaging inequities.”
—Seattle Book Review
"Eye-opening and thought-provoking . . . for anyone wanting a solid
and more complete understanding of our shared history, this is a
great book to have."
—Lily Bartels of The Open Door Bookstore on Northeast Public
Radio
"Author Sjursen's strong-worded narrative of American
history makes a credible effort to close “the gap between
what scholars know and what students learn” and writes in a way
that non-historians will appreciate."
—FrontLine Magazine
"Sjursen knows how to inform, provoke, and inspire. Even better, he
knows how to be equal parts tough-minded and openminded. A
True History is for anyone wishing to be pushed beyond their
comfort zone in the service of forming a more perfect union in
America."
—William J. Astore, historian, retired lieutenant colonel (USAF),
author of Hindenburg: Icon of German Militarism
"Every history teacher, from middle school, high school, to
university, will want to grab this brilliant book, a U.S. History
study guide like no other. Based on the course he taught at West
Point, historian and Army combat veteran Daniel Sjursen offers
profound insights and challenges the standard U.S. History
narrative."
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples' History of
the United States
"Sjursen exposes the dominant historical narrative as at best myth,
and at times a lie. Popular history celebrates the power of the
ruling elites in the present by deifying the ruling elites of the
past. Sjursen relentlessly puts back into the historical record the
racism, injustices, lies and crimes lesser historians ignore or
whitewash. He exposes the complexity of problematic historical
figures, such as the overt racist and imperialist Woodrow Wilson,
too often transformed into a mythical social archetype whose darker
actions, including a decision to re-segregate the federal
government and repeated military interventions on behalf of
American corporations in Latin America, destroyed tens of thousands
of lives . . . Sjursen brings out from the shadows those who
struggled, often at the cost of their own lives, for equality and
justice. Their stories, so often ignored or trivialized, give us
examples of who we should emulate and who we must become. "
—Chris Hedges, author of Empire of Illusion and America: The
Farewell Tour
"Nobody fuses together two time-honored cliches: 'those who do not
learn from history are doomed to repeat it' and the West Point
Academy motto of 'Duty, Honor and Country' better than retired Army
Major Daniel Sjursen."
—Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent (ret.), 9/11and Iraq War
whistleblower, and TIME Person of the Year (2022)
"Major Danny Sjursen (Ret.) is the ultimate soldier/scholar who
after 18 years fighting America's futile end-of-empire wars has
written the definitive history of our imperial entanglements dating
back to the pre-colonial era. His writing is an indispensable
companion to Howard Zinn's classic unmasking of the perpetual fraud
of American innocence."
—Robert Scheer, author of How the United States Got Involved in
Vietnam, journalist, and co-founder and editor of Truthdig.com
"To understand reality, there are two things that matter: 1) facts;
and 2) the interpretation of those facts. Sjursen can masterfully
wield both . . . an encouraging reminder that if America truly
seeks to live the ideals it was founded on, there is still much
more work to do."
—Erik Edstrom, West Point graduate, Afghan War veteran, and author
of Un-American: A Soldier's Reckoning of Our Longest War
"General Ulysses S. Grant felt the U.S. war with Mexico, 1846-1848,
was wrong. In the judgment of real historians like Sjursen, Grant
was right. In A True History of the United States, Sjursen
explains why such historical candor and accuracy is critical by
giving us the reason he taught West Pointers not only that Grant
was right in his assessment of our war of aggression and
aggrandizement in Mexico, but why historical truth in general is a
necessary antidote to the hypocrisy of patriotic nationalism:
'Exposure to the historical myths and flaws...of the country they
might very well die for seemed appropriate. Anything less
would have felt obscene.' Read this book to discover
why."
—Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, US Army (retired), former chief of
staff to the secretary of state, professor of government and public
policy at the College of William and Mary
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